Cardiff Catering has been awarded a Good Egg and Good Chicken award at the Good Farm Animal Welfare awards.
The Council’s in-house catering service has scooped the double award having been recognised by Compassion in World Farming for demonstrating best practice in responsible sourcing within public catering.
Cardiff Catering was among some 40 hospitals, educational centres and local councils to be presented with an award at a ceremony at Glaziers Hall, The River Room, London Bridge earlier this week. The Council’s Wellbeing and Compliance Manager, Sue Eakers, was presented with the awards by TV chef, Allegra McEvedy.
The awards, in three categories – Good Egg, Good Chicken and Good Dairy – recognise commitment to improving the lives of animals by sourcing only high welfare eggs, chicken or dairy produce for their catering.
Compassion in World Farming has pioneered a unique partnership approach, working with the European food industry, to encourage and reward commitment, transparency, performance and innovation in the field of animal welfare. Cardiff Catering provides approximately 33,000 meals a day at over 140 locations across the city and is committed to providing healthy, nutritionally-balanced meals using top quality produce from ethical sources.
The service is a strong supporter of sourcing responsible products and already features many Fairtrade drinks and food on the daily menu. Cardiff was the first authority in Wales to provide Marine Stewardship Council-certified fish on the school menu and also uses RSPCA Welsh free range eggs and RSPCA Freedom-standard chickens.
Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Freda Salway, said: “Healthy school meals are extremely important to Cardiff Catering but the service also takes a great deal of care in sourcing the food that is served every day. Reputable suppliers that provide top quality products are used and wherever possible, the service supports local suppliers.
“We have taken pride in putting ethics above cost for a good while now – some of our responsible food policies have been in place since 2004 so we are setting the trend and not just reacting to calls to be more ethical.
“I’m very pleased that the Council has attracted recognition at the Good Farm Animal Welfare awards. These awards will give the service’s customers the confidence to know that not only are Cardiff’s meals healthy and nutritious, but they are sustainable and responsible as well.”
